IRS Commissioner Hah Koskinen may be a participant in Lois Learner’s ‘lost’ E-mail cover-up

By Oscar Y. Harward

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by a Democrat Party majority U.S. Senate on December 20, 2013, as Commissioner of the IRS, a division of the US Treasury Department. 

On June 20, 2014 Commissioner John Koskinen testified, concerning the charges that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is/are/was ‘targeting’ Conservatives, Patriots, TEA Party members and supporters, and other similar groups, by delaying and or denying their First Amendment Rights and under US Tax Code, 501(c)(4) authorizations. 

His June 20, 2014 US House ‘Hearing’ responses appeared to be light on detail; even to the point of evading direct questions.  Commissioner Koskinen stated that there are no apologies from the IRS to targeted Americans for the IRS alleged ‘illegal’ actions.

As IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen has direct responsibility for everything that occurs under his command, not excluding ongoing events that occurred prior to his taking responsibility for the IRS.

John Koskinen, as Commissioner of the IRS, has an obligation to insure that all existing regulations, laws, and other policies are followed, new policies are implemented where necessary, and for taking corrective action anytime policies are not being followed. 

However, in the June 20, 2014 hearings, Mr. Koskiene appeared to be more interested in shielding wrongful IRS employees than in investigating, discovering, prosecuting, and/or even solving problems in the IRS.  Furthermore, Mr. Koskiene offers no solutions to these possible ‘illegal’ undertaking activities.

The Lois Learner's ‘missing E-mails’ illuminates a dangerous pattern of the IRS.  Their action positions display ‘illegal’ activity on the IRS's ability to manage its’ own Information Systems and/or to enforce it, as well as the US Treasury Department's, policies concerning data storage, maintenance, and record archiving.

‘WE, THE PEOPLE’ have reason to be very concerned since the IRS has enormous authority over our lives and our potentials.  Americans should look at some of the Treasury Department’s and IRS’s policy manuals concerning the IRS's ‘requirement’ handling of their own E-mails. 

“The Internal Revenue Service is required by federal law to keep records of all agency emails and to print out hard copies of the emails to make sure they get saved in the event of a computer glitch.”

“The [Federal Records Act] requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, who subpoenaed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen Monday.

The IRS’s own definition of the Federal Records Act makes clear that emails must be saved and documented, according to an instructional page for employees on the IRS website.”  http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/17/irs-was-required-by-law-to-print-out-lois-lerners-emails/

IRS 1.10.3.2.3  http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/irm_01-010-003.html#d0e51

1.    "All federal employees and federal contractors are required by law to preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency. Records must be properly stored and preserved, available for retrieval and subject to appropriate approved disposition schedules.

 

2.    The Federal Records Act applies to email records just as it does to records you create using other media. Emails are records when they are:

·         Created or received in the transaction of agency business

·         Appropriate for preservation as evidence of the government’s function and activities, or

·         Valuable because of the information they contain

 

 

1.15.1.2  (08-19-2013)  http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/irm_01-015-001.html#d0e53

In keeping with the Federal Records Act of 1950, as amended, and pursuant to Title 44, USC Section 3102, the IRS established a records management program - renamed Records and Information Management (RIM) Program - to ensure the economical and efficient management of its records. The program provides for the application, on a continuing basis, of sound management practices and techniques in the creation, maintenance, retrieval, preservation, and disposition of all records.

 

Treasury Directive 80-05  http://www.treasury.gov/about/role-of-treasury/orders-directives/Pages/td80-05.aspx

1. PURPOSE. This Directive provides policies and assigns responsibilities for records management, forms management, and interagency reports management. This Directive also authorizes the issuance of Treasury Department Publication (TD P) 80-05, Records and Information Management (RIM) Manual, which includes additional policy guidance for specific categories of records.  

2. SCOPE. This Directive applies to all Treasury bureaus and offices. This Directive applies to all records of the Treasury Department, as defined in the Federal Records Act, regardless of medium, which are created, collected, processed, used, stored and/or destroyed by Treasury bureaus and offices.

 

d. Electronic mail (e-mail) message is a document created or received on an e-mail system, including brief notes, more formal and substantive documents and any attachments, such as word processing documents transmitted, but not created, on an e-mail system.

 

Mr. Koskinen must know that it is illegal and prosecutable to ‘removed or alter’ records of the IRS.  Why does he appear to be less than forthcoming in solving the problem with these emails?  As the Commissioner of the IRS and a branch of the US Treasury Department, he knows that the IRS are required to periodically backup and preserve these records on a server?

 

The evidence is mounting that President Obama, Capitol Hill Democrats, and many others in the IRS, including IRS Commissioner Hah Koskinen, may be participants in Lois Learner’s ‘lost’ E-mail cover-up.